Last year, 450 job-seekers went through iwao's training centers in tokyo, osaka, nagoya and fukuoka. He expects 1,200 this year. Since competition for jobs is tough, he advised clients to change their way of thinking and look beyond japan's major corporations to small firms. Iwao has succeeded in part because he is much like his clients a middle-aged man facing a mid-career setback who took a gamble and won.